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    The Rough Guide to Germany (Travel Guide eBook)
    The Rough Guide to Germany (Travel Guide eBook)
    The Rough Guide to Germany (Travel Guide eBook)
    Ebook2,179 pages24 hours

    The Rough Guide to Germany (Travel Guide eBook)

    By Rough Guides

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    About this ebook

    Discover the length and breadth of Germany with the most incisive and entertaining guidebook on the market. Whether you plan to check out Berlin's art galleries, cruise down the Rhine Valley or go wine-tasting along the Mosel Weinstrasse, The Rough Guide to Germany will show you the ideal places to sleep, eat, drink, shop and visit along the way.



    - Independent, trusted reviews written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and insight, to help you get the most out of your visit, with options to suit every budget.

    - Full-colour maps throughout- navigate Rügen's meandering coastline or Munich's Altstadt without needing to get online.

    - Stunning images - a rich collection of inspiring colour photography.

    - Things not to miss - Rough Guides' rundown of Germany's best sights and experiences.

    - Itineraries - carefully planned routes to help you organize your trip.

    - Detailed regional coverage - whether off the beaten track or in more mainstream tourist destinations, this travel guide has in-depth practical advice for every step of the way.



    Areas covered include: Berlin and Brandenburg; Saxony, including Leipzig and Dresden; Saxony-Anhalt and the Harz; Thuringia, including Weimar; Franconia (Northern Bavaria), including Nuremberg and Bamberg; Munich and central Bavaria; the Alps and eastern Bavaria; Baden-Württemberg, including Stuttgart and Heidelberg; the Black Forest; Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland; Frankfurt and Hesse; North-Rhine Westphalia, including Cologne; Lower Saxony and Bremen, including Hannover; Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein; Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.



    Attractions include: Berlin Wall Memorial, the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, Elbe Sandstone Mountains, Bode Valley, Amalienburg, Ulm Münster, Baden-Baden spas, Europa-Park, Schauinsland cable car, the Romantic Rhine, Schloss Neuschwanstein, the Altmühltal nature reserve, the Romantic Road, Berchtesgadener Land, Aachen cathedral, Folkwang collection, Essen, North Sea island-hopping, Schwerin Schloss, to name but a few.



    - Basics - essential pre-departure practical information including getting there, local transport, accommodation, food and drink, the media, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, culture and etiquette, travelling with children, shopping and more.

    - Background information - a Contexts chapter devoted to history, books, film and music, plus a handy language section and glossary.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInsight Guides
    Release dateMay 1, 2018
    ISBN9781789191424
    The Rough Guide to Germany (Travel Guide eBook)
    Author

    Rough Guides

    Rough Guides are written by expert authors who are passionate about both writing and travel. They have detailed knowledge of the areas they write about--having either traveled extensively or lived there--and their expertise shines through on every page. It's priceless information, delivered with wit and insight, providing the down-to-earth, honest read that is the hallmark of Rough Guides.

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      The Rough Guide to Germany (Travel Guide eBook) - Rough Guides

      Contents

      How to use this Rough Guide ebook

      Introduction to Germany

      Where to go

      When to go

      Author picks

      Things not to miss

      Itineraries

      Basics

      Getting there

      Getting around

      Accommodation

      Food and drink

      The media

      Festivals

      Sports and outdoor activities

      Travel essentials

      The guide

      1. Berlin and Brandenburg

      2. Saxony

      3. Saxony-Anhalt and the Harz

      4. Thuringia

      5. Northern Bavaria: Franconia

      6. Munich and central Bavaria

      7. The Alps and eastern Bavaria

      8. Baden-Württemberg

      9. The Black Forest

      10. Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland

      11. Hesse

      12. North Rhine-Westphalia

      13. Lower Saxony and Bremen

      14. Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein

      15. Mecklenburg-West Pomerania

      Contexts

      History

      Books

      Film

      Popular music

      German

      Glossary

      Maps and small print

      How to use this Rough Guide ebook

      This Rough Guide is one of a new generation of informative and easy-to-use travel-guide ebooks that guarantees you make the most of your trip. An essential tool for pre-trip planning, it also makes a great travel companion when you’re on the road.

      From the table of contents, you can click straight to the main sections of the ebook. Start with the Introduction, which gives you a flavour of Germany, with details of what to see, what not to miss, itineraries and more – everything you need to get started. This is followed by Basics, with pre-departure tips and practical information, such as flight details and festival listings. The guide chapters offer comprehensive and in-depth coverage of the whole of Germany, including area highlights and full-colour maps featuring all the sights and listings. Finally, Contexts fills you in on history, books, film and popular music and includes a handy Language section.

      Detailed area maps feature in the guide chapters and are also listed in the dedicated map section, accessible from the table of contents. Depending on your hardware, you can double-tap on the maps to see larger-scale versions, or select different scales. The screen-lock function on your device is recommended when viewing enlarged maps. Make sure you have the latest software updates, too.

      . You can select your own favourites and create a personalized itinerary by bookmarking the sights, venues and activities that are of interest, giving you the quickest possible access to everything you’ll need for your time away.

      Munich city skyline

      Introduction to Germany

      Germany remains something of a sleeping giant in travel terms, for though it attracts roughly the same number of foreign visitors each year as the United Kingdom – around 35 million – it rarely makes headline news in the travel media, and when it does those headlines are most often about Berlin. The German capital certainly deserves the attention; it’s as exciting a city as any in Europe. Yet the paeans of praise can sometimes crowd out the rest of Germany, reduced to a picturesque backdrop for Christmas markets or the Oktoberfest. In 2017, the German National Tourist Board rode to the rescue with a Top 100 of the best bits of Germany, and what’s most striking about the list is its sheer diversity. To be sure, Berlin, beer and Christmas all feature, but so too do the sub-tropical islands of the Bodensee, the other-worldly crags of Saxon Switzerland and the Müritzsee in the Mecklenburg Lakes – this last a peaceful landscape of lakes and forests almost unknown to non-Germans. Alongside the highbrow attractions of Germany’s cities – architectural jewels such as Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Würzburg’s Residenz – the list also includes some of the most raucous, fun-packed theme parks in Europe. There is, in short, much here for the visitor to enjoy. And much of it remains – to non-Germans at least – undiscovered.

      Karwendel mountains, Werdenfelser Land

      If Germany is misunderstood by outsiders, recent history is to blame. It is not even three decades since the Berlin Wall was chipped away to end a turbulent and agonizing century for the country, ill-served at crucial points in its brief history as a united nation-state by rulers who twice led it into disaster: in 1918, as Kaiser Wilhelm II’s vainglorious dream of empire ended in defeat, starvation and revolution; and at the end of World War II, as Hitler’s vile race-war rebounded in terrible fashion on the German people who had chosen him as their leader. There followed a period of 45 years in which not one Germany but two faced each other across a tense international divide – the so-called Iron Curtain – throughout the years of the Cold War.

      Political fragmentation is nothing new in Germany. From the tenth century until the early nineteenth, the Holy Roman Empire provided only a loose semblance of sovereignty over a vast collection of states, and it’s this jumbled history, as much as the country’s varied geography, that explains Germany’s sheer diversity. For centuries many of Germany’s cities governed themselves without feudal overlords, while elsewhere the feudal states ranged from substantial kingdoms like Prussia, Saxony or Bavaria to tiny landgraviates and prince-bishoprics. Yet each made its contribution to Germany’s heritage, in the architectural and cultural splendour of many a former Residenzstadt. The Lutheran Reformation and its aftermath left their mark too: northern Germany is predominantly Protestant, the south more Catholic.

      Germany’s contribution to the world of classical music is undeniable, and provides a powerful pretext for a visit for many, whether to experience the glories of the Berlin Philharmonic or of Wagner’s Ring at Bayreuth, or to follow in the footsteps of great composers: Bach in Leipzig, Beethoven in Bonn. Germany’s reputation as the cradle of modernism is also well deserved, and a pilgrimage to the Bauhaus in Dessau or the Weissenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart is sure to please design fans. German modernism was preceded by the older traditions of the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo, each of which left a rich legacy of artistic and architectural treasures. Germany’s fine art is less well known, yet from the pioneering realism of Albrecht Dürer to the ethereal Romanticism of Caspar David Friedrich, it’s well worth discovering. Most German cities of any size have excellent galleries, with Berlin and Cologne hubs of the European contemporary art scene.

      Not that the pleasures of Germany are all intellectual. The excellence of its famous beer derives from the sixteenth-century Reinheitsgebot, the world’s oldest food purity law. Germany’s food culture is traditionally characterized by wholesome but hearty dishes, yet the impact of immigration, travel and culinary ambition has been powerful, and modern German cuisine is lighter and more international in flavour. Though the dangers of overindulgence are ever present, so too is the antidote. The tradition of the Kur or spa visit has endured to a far greater extent in Germany than elsewhere, and there are innumerable spa towns up and down the country. And of course, there is an outdoors that is truly great: a location at the heart of Europe means the country is full of scenery that seems cherry-picked from the best bits of its neighbours. Between the white powder beaches of the Baltic and Bavaria’s Alps you’ll discover everything from endless forests and lush meadows to gorgeous swooping river valleys like the Rhine, the Mosel and the Elbe. Small wonder the Germans make full use of their scenery, whether for hiking and cycling, excellent ski runs in winter or a whole raft of watersports.

      Indeed the Germans themselves are one of the unsung pleasures of a visit. The officious neighbour who complains if you don’t hang your socks out to dry in coloured order may not be entirely fictional, but you’re more likely to be struck by the warmth and open-mindedness of Germany’s people – particularly its young people. Germany today is a world away from the uptight humourless nation of popular imagination – just one more example of where the reality is far more interesting than the clichés.

      Fact file

      • Germany occupies 357,112 square kilometres of territory in Central Europe. It has land borders with nine countries and a coastline of 2389km on the North and Baltic seas.

      • Politically, Germany is a parliamentary democracy, with an upper house – the Bundesrat – and a lower chamber, the Bundestag, both in Berlin. The administrative structure is federal, with the sixteen Länder (states) having a high degree of autonomy.

      • Germany is the largest economy in the European Union and the continent’s largest exporter; it is the third-largest in the world. As the economic heart of the eurozone it is also home to the headquarters of the European Central Bank.

      • With a population of almost 83 million, Germany is the most populous nation in the European Union, and it is also among its most densely populated and highly urbanized. The four largest cities are Berlin (3.7 million inhabitants), Hamburg (1.86 million), Munich (1.54 million) and Cologne (1.1 million).

      • Germans DO have a sense of humour and DO love to sunbathe naked. But DON’T feel you can’t mention the war – nowadays Germans are avid consumers of their own history, and the Nazi era is picked over exhaustively in TV documentaries, in books, and at the cinema.

      from top Spitalstrassee, Schiltach; River Spree, Berlin

      Where to go

      For many visitors, one of Germany’s cities will be their first taste of the country. Berlin is genuinely exciting – a creative metropolis on fast-forward, growing into its rediscovered role as the nation’s capital while preserving evidence of its not always happy role in European history. The second metropolis, Hamburg, is almost as dynamic and visibly more prosperous, shaped by its twin roles as Germany’s great port and its rich media city. Many other cities have proud histories as independent city-states or as capitals in their own right. There’s nothing remotely provincial about ancient, liberal Cologne, Dresden’s restored Baroque splendour or the proud Bavarian metropolis of Munich. The financial capital, Frankfurt, impresses with its dynamism and international spirit, while Bonn, the former West German capital, charms with its scenic setting and excellent museums. Elsewhere, chic Düsseldorf and laidback Stuttgart embody aspects of the German economic miracle, and while the eastern city of Leipzig fizzes with fresh energy, Nuremberg evokes the triumphs and tragedies of Germany’s past.

      Cultural attractions of capital-city quality are not limited to the bigger cities, and many of the most rewarding places are quite small: the cathedral cities of Bamberg and Regensburg; the Hanseatic ports of Lübeck, Stralsund and Wismar; the Prussian Versailles of Potsdam; and micro-capitals like Weimar, Schwerin and Eichstätt. Germany has university towns as evocative as any: Heidelberg is the most famous, but Freiburg, Marburg and Tübingen are just as charming. As for the spa towns, at their best – in Baden-Baden, Bad Homburg or Wiesbaden – they combine health benefits with turn-of-the-century elegance and lovely natural settings. For a potted digest of Germany’s cultural riches the Romantic Road is deservedly popular, a road journey linking Rococo churches with medieval cities and eccentric royal castles. Other themed roads are devoted to fairy tales, half-timbering or wine. Often, the most magical places – a fortress on a crag, a placid village rising above vineyards, an ancient market square of improbable quaintness – await discovery on such routes. And surrounding all is Germany’s undeniable natural beauty – as good a reason to visit as any city. The Bavarian Alps, the Black Forest and the valleys of the Rhine and Mosel have long been celebrated, but the talcum-powder softness of Rügen’s beaches, the chic village resorts of Sylt and the bucolic backwater of Mecklenburg’s lakes have yet to make it onto the international tourism agenda. The world’s loss is, for the time being, the independent traveller’s gain.

      The Great Outdoors

      Goethe eulogized it. Caspar David Friedrich painted it. Even politicians saluted it when they established the world’s first Green Party in 1979. A love of the great outdoors is hardwired into the national psyche, and with more than ninety nature reserves, fifteen national parks and sixteen biosphere reserves to choose from, there’s no shortage of unspoilt landscapes in which to hike, cycle, ski, climb, canoe, swim or simply stroll.

      Top 5 national Parks

      nationalpark-jasmund.de. Situated on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen, Jasmund is blessed with the country’s sunniest climate and celebrated for the white chalk cliffs of the Königstein.

      nationalpark-berchtesgaden.bayern.de. Legend claims the mountains of the Berchtesgadener Land – the nation’s only Alpine park – appeared when angels dropped the best bits of the world. It’s certainly heavenly, an area offering stupendous hiking among soaring peaks, impossibly emerald lakes and pristine forests.

      nationalpark-saechsische-schweiz.de. The distinctive sandstone plateaux of the Elbsandsteingebirge (Elbe Sandstone Mountains), near Dresden, are loved by rock-climbers as well as hikers.

      nationalpark-bayerischer-wald.de. A low range of mountains and pine forests that extends over the Czech border and harbours deer, otters and pygmy owls – as well as many good mountain-bike and hiking trails.

      nationalpark-harz.de. Sleepy and brooding, with steam trains and half-timbered villages huddling amid spectres and witchcraft, this is Germany’s most fabled national park.

      A wine-making renaissance

      Germany’s wine growers did themselves no favours when, in the 1970s, they responded to growing demand from abroad by exporting the cheapest and worst of what they produced. German wine was saddled for decades with a reputation for poor quality.

      All that is now changing. A new generation of wine makers is eschewing high technology, chemicals and the mass market in favour of organic production that reflects the terroir, or soil and climate conditions of the region. It helps that Riesling – Germany’s most popular grape – strongly reflects the conditions in which it has been grown. The result is a resurgence of light, drinkable, dry white wines that range from elegant crispness to the subtly mineral. German wines are increasingly common on wine lists in North America and in parts of Asia, where they match the cuisines well.

      Germany’s major wine regions are mostly in an arc that follows the course of the Rhine from the Mosel in the west to Baden in the south. To the east, wine is grown in more challenging climatic conditions in Franconia, Saale-Unstrut and along the Elbe near Dresden.

      When to go

      Much of the country receives its maximum rainfall in midsummer, so although the weather in June, July and August can be very warm, it can also be unpredictable. For more settled weather with sunshine and comfortable temperatures, late spring and early autumn – May, September and early October – are well worth considering: the Germans don’t call the harvest season goldener Oktober for nothing. The ski season in the Alps runs between Christmas and the end of March. Germany’s climate straddles the maritime climates of the western European seaboard and the more extreme conditions found further east. The prevailing wind is from the west, so that the mild climate of the Rhineland and North Sea coast quite closely resembles that of the UK or Ireland. Winters are more severe further east, while heading south the effects of steadily increasing altitude ensure Munich’s summers are no warmer than those of Berlin. The balmiest climate in Germany is found in the wine-growing southwest, where it’s not unusual to see lavender, Mediterranean pine, almond and even lemon trees.

      St Bartholomä Chapel, Königsee

      < Back to Introduction to Germany

      from Right Swimmers near Waren, Mecklenburg Lake District; Militarisches Museum, Dresden

      Author picks

      Germany has its poster places: the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin or Bavaria’s gloriously over-the-top Schloss Neuschwanstein. But the cherished memories of a country are usually more personal discoveries. Rough Guides’ authors made many of their own as they sallied down every backroad to research this book. Here are their favourites:

      Bathtime With wonderful nooks, fin-de-siècle tiles and cutting-edge sauna facilities, the baths at Bad Wildbad really are something special.

      Military marvels The subject could be deathly (no pun intended), yet Dresden’s audacious Militärhistorisches Museum is superb, its thematic exhibitions as unexpected as its striking modern building.

      Backroads by the beach Wild powder-sand beaches, birdlife, and art in modern galleries and old barns – what’s not to like about the Darss-Zingst peninsula?

      Ulm’s Münster You don’t normally associate churches with exercise and adrenaline, but you’ll get both climbing the world’s tallest spire, with its views to the Alps.

      Biking the Rosskopf Mountain-bike trails for every level of ability fan out from Freiburg, but the climb up the Rosskopf is the most satisfying.

      Herrenchiemsee Mad King Ludwig’s uncompleted homage to Versailles, set on an island in the Bavarian Sea, recalls the loneliness and flamboyance of Bavaria’s most memorable monarch.

      Wines in Würzburg Franconian wine, with its traditional rounded glass bottle and distinctive grape varieties, is a great delicacy unknown outside Germany.

      The great escape Unleash your inner Huckleberry Finn on canoe-and-camp trips through the maze-like Mecklenburg lakes. Expect birds and butterflies, woods and meadows, a campsite every few kilometres and a fire at night. Magic.

      symbol.

      < Back to Introduction to Germany

      32 things not to miss

      It’s not possible to see everything that Germany has to offer in one trip – and we don’t suggest you try. What follows, in no particular order, is a selective taste of the country’s highlights: iconic landscapes, captivating architecture, and legendary drinking and dancing.

      1 Karneval in Cologne Banish the winter blues, Rhineland style, with costumes and ritual silliness – but be sure not to wear a tie.

      2 Schloss Neuschwanstein Mad King Ludwig’s maddest creation combines Wagnerian inspiration with a superbly dramatic Alpine site to create a romantic fantasy from the age of chivalry.

      3 Leipzig A vast cotton mill reborn as a creative hub, Leipzig’s Spinnerei is the vibrant modern face of this most dynamic of east German cities.

      4 LONG-DISTANCE CYCLING Almost every major German river – including the Mosel, pictured – has a long-distance cycle path alongside.

      5 The Berlin Wall Peer over the last remnant of one of Europe’s most famous frontiers at the Berlin Wall Memorial.

      6 JUGENDSTIL IN DARMSTADT The German version of Art Nouveau, set in a bohemian artists’ colony.

      7 baden-baden SPAs Saunas and spas abound in Germany but none are more stylish and historic than those at Baden-Baden.

      8 LENBACHHAUS, MUNICH The masterpieces of Munich’s Blaue Reiter embody all the colour-saturated excitement of the time when European art turned towards abstraction.

      9 Wilhelmshöhe, hesse Spectacular, World Heritage-listed water features and one of Germany’s leading Old Master collections.

      10 Christmas markets Christmas cheer the way it’s been for centuries.

      11 BEER GARDENS The perfect place to drink your way through a hot summer’s day.

      12 The Romantic Rhine Rhine-side castles and vineyards in the Germany of tourist brochures.

      13 OKTOBERFEST, MUNICH The world’s biggest excuse for a beer.

      14 OSTALGIE, berlin Explore the mixed legacy of the old GDR at the DDR Museum, from a sinister Stasi listening station (pictured) to the Eastern Bloc nostalgia fondly known as Ostalgie.

      15 THE ZWINGER, DRESDEN The most extravagant alfresco ballroom Germany ever built.

      16 ROMANTIC ROAD FAIRY-TALE VILLAGES A Disney-like Bavarian road-trip where the steep roofs and ancient towers are real.

      17 mercedes museum, stuttgart A superb motor museum by the inventors of the car – testament to the region’s engineering prowess.

      18 Cologne A liberal, cosmopolitan metropolis with two thousand years of art and history.

      19 Hamburg Great art, superb dining, brilliant bars – whatever your definition of culture, this booming port-metropolis can oblige.

      20 WURST Germany’s most iconic sausage, from pale, lemony Weisswurst to Currywurst with ketchup and curry powder.

      21 Berlin’s nightlife From cutting-edge techno clubs to grungy dens and retro lounge bars, Berlin’s nightlife is among the best in Europe.

      22 THE RUHR’S INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE TRAIL The Ruhr’s reinvented industrial heritage offers some of Europe’s most original travel experiences.

      23 wieskirche, bavaria Nowhere better pairs the élan and excess of Bavaria’s heavenly church interiors than the Wieskirche.

      24 THE RATHAUS, BAMBERG Trompe l’oeil trickery in the town hall that launched a thousand flashbulbs.

      25 Rügen Edged by white cliffs, Germany’s largest island remains a gentle place where it’s easy to escape the crowds.

      26 german WINE High local demand means many tipples don’t leave regions where they are grown – just another good reason to tour the country’s wine routes.

      27 SKIING, GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN Soak up the views from high-altitude pistes, or brave the fearsome Kandahar World Cup Run.

      28 Lübeck Culture, cuisine and historic good looks along every backstreet – welcome to one of Germany’s loveliest cities.

      29 AACHEN’S CATHEDRAL Aachen’s ancient cathedral is a taste of Byzantium in the heart of the city.

      30 CHRISTOPHER STREET DAY The massive LGBT communities of Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Hamburg know how to throw a party.

      31 North Frisian Islands Idle in escapist Strandkörbe seats or skim across the sea on a kite-surf.

      32 Saxon Switzerland The fantastical sandstone pinnacles in this national park appeal to hikers, climbers or just afternoon strollers.

      < Back to Introduction to Germany

      The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, at Christmas

      Itineraries

      With its highlights dotted rather than clustered, Germany rewards touring, be it a classic vineyard-and-castle-studded route down the country’s western flank; a picture-postcard circuit of Bavaria’s cathedral towns; or even a northern coastal tour.

      COAST AND CULTURE

      Berlin and Hamburg bookend a circuit that includes beach resorts and pretty medieval ports. Set aside ten days to do it justice.

      1 Berlin No longer quite as poor as claimed by its mayor in 2003, the capital remains sexy nevertheless, with superlative culture and clubbing.

      2 Stralsund Overlooked by most holiday­makers, Stralsund’s Altstadt is stuffed with architecture from its peak as a medieval trading port.

      3 Rügen Travel on the Rasender Roland steam train or just laze on some of the finest white beaches in the Baltic. And if you really want to drop off the radar, head to Hiddensee.

      4 Bad Doberan Just a small spa town, yet its twelfth-century minster is a pinnacle of brick Gothic in the Baltic.

      5 Schwerin A fairy-tale castle straight from Cinderella is the highlight of the state capital, along with the gentle art of walks around its lake.

      6 Lübeck The queen of the medieval Hanseatic League is a Venice of the Baltic, with architecture that speaks of former greatness.

      7 Hamburg Great galleries, gourmet eating and grungy nightlife – what else to expect of a city that is at once a hip media metropolis and Germany’s largest port?

      THE MOSEL, RHINE AND BLACK FOREST

      This classic itinerary wheels around western Germany to include some of its most famous rivers, castles and wine-growing regions as well as the relatively wild swathe of hills known as the Black Forest. Allow ten days.

      1 Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate Tour well-preserved Roman remains in one of Germany’s oldest cities.

      2 The Mosel, Rhineland-Palatinate Follow the Mosel River, with stops at the idyllic wine towns of Bernkastel-Kues and the hidden Burg Eltz.

      3 The Romantic Rhine, Rhineland-Palatinate At its confluence with the Mosel, head along the Rhine’s grander and busier waterways, stopping off to explore the magnificent Marksburg castle en route.

      4 Mainz and Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate Discover two venerable imperial Rhine cities with their impressive churches and worthwhile museums.

      5 Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg Nip over the state line to an attractive old town that wowed Mark Twain.

      6 Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg Spend time perambulating dignified streets and de-stressing in the venerable baths.

      7 Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, Baden-Württemberg Drive from Baden-Baden through mountains via Freudenstadt and the Kinzig Valley to cuckoo-clock country around Triberg.

      8 Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg Return to the Rhine Valley to visit this attractive medieval city with its wanderable old town.

      BAVARIA

      Bavaria has it all, from high culture to viticulture and beer to breathtaking scenery. This circular tour takes in the highlights. Allow two weeks at a leisured pace.

      1 Munich A rich and vibrant metropolis with a seductive lifestyle. No wonder Germans would rather live here than anywhere else.

      2 Berchtesgadener Land A country within a country, dazzling in its scenery and chilling in its reminders of a one-time holiday home for the Third Reich’s elite.

      3 The Deutsche Alpenstrasse Head west from Berchtesgaden along the northern flank of the Alps through idyllic mountain resorts like Reit im Winkl, Bayrischzell and Walchensee.

      4 The Romantic Road Dawdle along Germany’s most famous tourist road, past Baroque churches, pastoral landscapes and lost-in-time walled towns.

      5 Bamberg A charming historic core and distinctive smoked beer make this compact but beautiful city a tempting spot to linger.

      6 Bayreuth This pint-sized cultural hotspot is the product of two strong-willed individuals – Frederick the Great’s sister Wilhelmine and the composer Richard Wagner.

      7 Nuremberg The triumphs and tragedies of German history, from the monuments of the city’s imperial zenith to the still-recognizable reminders of the Nazi era.

      8 Altmühltal Hike, cycle or paddle through the Jurassic landscapes of one of Germany’s biggest nature reserves.

      9 Regensburg Journey’s end is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Central Europe.

      < Back to Introduction to Germany

      Basics

      Getting there

      Getting around

      Accommodation

      Food and drink

      The media

      Festivals

      Sports and outdoor activities

      Travel essentials

      Getting there

      The quickest and easiest way to reach Germany from outside continental Europe is by air. The national carrier is Lufthansa, but dozens of other major airlines fly to Germany too. The wide spread of airports throughout the country – many served by budget airlines – means air is also the cheapest method of arrival. However, if you’re already in continental Europe, road and rail travel might prove more convenient and eco-friendly; even the additional cost of taking a ferry or travelling via the tunnel from the UK might beat the price of flying and then renting a car.

      The principal hub for international long-haul flights is Frankfurt – whose airport has its own major train station for onward connections – followed by Munich and Düsseldorf. Other significant options include Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne/Bonn and Stuttgart; more minor options include Frankfurt (Hahn), Hannover and Nuremburg. Prices vary considerably by season, with the highest being around June to August. Fares drop during shoulder seasons – September, October, April and May – and you’ll get the best prices during the low season: November to March, excluding Christmas and New Year when prices are hiked up. As ever, early bookers snatch the best deals. Note too, that midweek prices are lower.

      Most points of arrival are well linked to city centres via cheap and efficient public transport. If you plan to use public transport throughout a city stay, then multi-day tickets that include your journey from the airport are available, the only exceptions being the remote airports used by budget airlines, although even these are always linked to a major destination by bus services.

      A better kind of travel

      At Rough Guides we are passionately committed to travel. We believe it helps us understand the world we live in and the people we share it with – and of course tourism is vital to many developing economies. But the scale of modern tourism has also damaged some places irreparably, and climate change is accelerated by most forms of transport, especially flying. All Rough Guides’ flights are carbon-offset, and every year we donate money to a variety of environmental charities.

      Visas

      Most EU nationals can enter Germany on a valid passport or national identity card for an indefinite period. US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand citizens do not need a visa to enter Germany, and are allowed a stay of ninety days within any six-month period. South Africans need to apply for a visa, from the German embassy in Pretoria, which will cost around ZAR950 depending on the exchange rate. Visa requirements vary for nationals of other countries; contact your local German embassy or consulate for information.

      In order to extend a stay once in the country all visitors should contact the nearest Ausländeramt (Alien Authority): addresses are in the phone books. For more information on this process and finding a job, see Living in Germany.

      German embassies abroad

      UK london.diplo.de.

      Ireland dublin.diplo.de.

      US germany.info.

      Canada ottawa.diplo.de.

      Australia canberra.diplo.de.

      New Zealand wellington.diplo.de.

      South Africa pretoria.diplo.de.

      Flights from the UK and Ireland

      skyscanner.net invaluable.

      Flights from the US and Canada

      condor.com) tend to concentrate on direct services to smaller regional airports; the latter two only operate in summer.

      Most transatlantic flights are bound for Frankfurt, with a handful to Munich, Berlin and Düsseldorf. However, domestic connections are cheap and plentiful, by air or train.

      East-coast flights are marginally cheaper than those from the west coast. The lowest discounted scheduled return flight to Frankfurt you’re likely to find in low/high season, flying midweek, is US$500/675 from New York, US$650/950 from Chicago and US$740/1160 from Los Angeles.

      lufthansa.com), are out of Toronto, followed by Vancouver with a handful of flights from Ottawa, Calgary and Montreal. Again, Frankfurt is the premier destination, then Munich. You are unlikely to make major savings by flying to the US first: low-/high-season fares to Frankfurt from Toronto are Can$750/1100; from Vancouver expect to pay from Can$950/1600.

      Flights from Australia and New Zealand

      singaporeair.com) command the bulk of flights, with other carriers requiring a change of planes in the operators’ hub city – usually in Asia or the Middle East – before continuing to Germany, though these cheaper fares can bump up journey times by a good ten hours – reputable agents such as STA come into their own here. Other stopover possibilities include the US and Canada, though North American routes tend to be more expensive.

      The lowest prices from Sydney or Melbourne to Frankfurt in (European) high/low season are A$2300/1450, with those from Perth generally around A$200 cheaper, and those from Adelaide more expensive by the same margin. From New Zealand, low-season scheduled fares from Auckland start at around NZ$2450 and rise to NZ$2660 and up in high season. Again Qantas, British Airways and Singapore Airlines are the big three carriers, with most flights stopping at Singapore. Consequently round-the-world tickets often offer good-value fares compared with a standard return, not to mention a chance to break up the journey for some travel en route. For roughly the price of a long-haul return, you can buy multi-stopover or round-the-world tickets. A good agent such as STA is able to devise a travel plan pieced together from various airlines, with Germany just one destination on a ticket that is generally valid for a year. Prices for the basic Australia–Asia–Europe–US–Australia itinerary start from as little as A$1500. It’s also possible to route overland segments into the journey.

      Trains

      The high-speed rail links of Eurostar eurostar.com) run from St Pancras International, London, to Brussels (1hr 55min) in Belgium where you’ll need to switch to a French-run Thalys or InterCity Express (ICE) train to Germany. Like air travel, prices vary according to the season, day and time, class of travel and also how far in advance tickets are booked. For example, a last-minute standard-class return for London–Cologne can easily rise above £300, but advance fares start at around £150. This means train travel has begun to compete with the price of flying if you take into account baggage fees and the cost of travel into cities to and from airports, not to mention the annoyance and time spent in airport security. The environmental benefits of train travel are also huge.

      seat61.com is invaluable for planning.

      Sleeper trains

      The Austrian-run ÖBB Nightjet oebb.at) runs sleeper trains – think soothing curved corridors and soft lighting – between Austria, Hungary, Italy and Switzerland and several major German cities, with the option of reclining seats, couchettes or smart en-suite sleeper compartments. Ticket prices are calculated as additional charges to regular fares and range from €15 for a reclining seat, through €40 for a four-berth couchette to €140 for a single-occupancy sleeper.

      Rail passes

      If you plan to use the train extensively, look into rail passes. Since, with some planning, travel by train within Germany can be very good value, it’s worth doing the sums via the website of national operator Deutsche Bahn bahn.com) to ensure that a pass that gets you to Germany from abroad and provides travel within the country is cheaper than an international flight to Germany plus a national rail pass.

      There are two types of railway pass depending on your citizenship and residency. The Eurail Pass is for citizens of countries outside Europe, and comes in a variety of forms: the Global Pass permits unlimited travel within 28 countries from five days (US$555) to three months (US$1944); the Select Pass allows you to choose up to four countries for five (US$271; two countries) to ten days’ travel (US$500; five countries); and the Benelux-Germany Pass provides five (US$317) to ten days’ (US$516) travel within a two-month period. Under-28s are eligible for discounts of about a third and only valid for second-class seats. Family passes are also available. The German Rail Pass germanrailpasses.com), which covers just Germany, is also available for citizens and residents of non-European countries and offered in various increments: from US$268 for three days’ travel in a month to US$609 for fifteen.

      European citizens can purchase a time-honoured InterRail interrail.eu) pass, which comes in formats that are either valid continuously or only for specified days within a set period. Prices start at £193 for three days’ second-class travel within a thirty-day period in just Germany and rise to £576 for a month’s continuous travel. First-class passes cost around half as much again, while under-28s pay a third less. There are smaller discounts for over-60s and family passes available too. All passes require supplement payments for high-speed trains and couchettes.

      Buses

      Compared with low-cost airlines, travelling to Germany by bus can save a little money and reduce your carbon footprint, but the journey will be a good deal longer. Services to all major cities in Germany are run by Eurolines from Victoria Coach Station in London, and are bookable online. As an idea of times and advance prices, London–Cologne takes thirteen hours and costs around £23 one-way, London–Berlin twenty hours and £50.

      Another option for a European tour is backpacker-friendly bus service Busabout, which operates a hop-on, hop-off network of routes throughout the continent. Berlin, Dresden, Munich and Stuttgart are served (as are Bruges and Amsterdam, which are close to the arrival of UK ferry services). Prices depend on trip length and range from a two-week pass for €390 up to one that covers the entire season (May–Oct) for €1564.

      Ferries and the Channel Tunnel

      There are no longer any direct ferry services from the UK to Germany, so you’ll have to pass through France, Belgium or the Netherlands, depending on your start point and destination. The most useful routes from southern England run to France: the Newhaven–Dieppe ferry (DFDS; 2 daily); the Dover–Calais/Dunkirk ferry (DFDS & P&O; hourly); and the Folkstone–Calais car-carrying Eurotunnel train (4 per hour). From eastern England the best option is the Harwich–Hoek van Holland ferry (Stena Line; 2 daily). From northern England there’s the choice of two ferries: Hull–Rotterdam/Zeebrugge (P&O; daily) and Newcastle–Amsterdam (DFDS; daily). Year-round sea links to the German Baltic coast also exist from Scandinavia, notably Sweden and Denmark (Stena Line; daily), and Baltic nations such as Latvia. From Irelanddirectferries.co.uk presents a useful overview of all routes, ports and operators.

      As a general guide of driving times from Calais, allow eight hours to Hamburg (6hr from Hoek van Holland), six hours to Frankfurt, ten hours to Berlin and ten hours to Munich.

      Finally, you may be able to pick up a faster ride – and often a cheaper one – via car-shares.

      Agents and operators

      Helloworld helloworld.co.nz. Great deals on flights, hotels and holidays.

      Martin Randall Travel martinrandall.com. Small-group cultural tours, usually accompanied by lecturers; an eight-day Berlin, Potsdam and Dresden package costs around £2920.

      North South Travel northsouthtravel.co.uk. Friendly, competitive travel agency, offering discounted fares worldwide. Profits are used to support projects in the developing world, especially the promotion of sustainable tourism.

      STA Travel statravel.co.uk. Worldwide specialist in independent travel; also student IDs, travel insurance, car rental, rail passes and more. Good discounts for students and under-26s.

      Trailfinders trailfinders.com. One of the best-informed and most efficient agents for independent travellers.

      Travel CUTS travelcuts.com. Canadian youth and student travel firm.

      USIT usit.ie. Leading student and youth travel specialist.

      Rail contacts

      Deutsche Bahn bahn.com.

      Eurail eurail.com.

      Eurostar eurostar.com.

      Rail Europe raileurope.co.uk.

      Bus contacts

      Busabout busabout.com.

      Eurolines eurolines.com.

      Ferry contacts

      DFDS Seaways dfdsseaways.co.uk.

      Irish Ferries irishferries.com.

      P&O Ferries poferries.com.

      Stena Line stenaline.co.uk.

      Channel Tunnel

      Eurotunnel eurotunnel.com.

      < Back to Basics

      Getting around

      Planes, trains and automobiles, not to mention buses, boats and bikes: Germany deals in the full deck of options for travel within the country, with one of the finest public transport systems in Europe. Unusually for a largely landlocked nation, it also affords considerable opportunities for travel on its arterial rivers – slow travel at its best, in which the getting there is as much a reason to travel as the destination. Services operate on arterial rivers such as the Rhine, Mosel and Elbe, generally from April to October; details are provided in relevant destinations. Prices are more expensive than those for rail, but that’s not really the point.

      By air

      germanwings.com) offer daily routes throughout the country, with single fares for as little as €30 including taxes. Flights can be as often as hourly on popular routes such as Hamburg–Munich, a flight that saves five hours compared to the same journey by train. Advance bookings – at least two weeks prior – provide substantial discounts.

      Trip planning in Germany

      bahn.com) is superb for planning, with its online timetable even covering local bus connections. Its DB Navigator smartphone app is probably the single most useful app for visitors to Germany: functions include travel planning, real-time information, delay notifications and paperless tickets. It’s available on both IOS and Android platforms.

      By train

      The much-lauded national rail system operated by Deutsche Bahn is superb, but not quite faultless. Trains can be a few minutes late and strikes are not unknown. Nevertheless, trains remain the workhorse of public transport and the nation has good reason to be proud of its efficient privatized system. Its 43,900km of track is the most extensive in Europe; trains are frequent – generally hourly, with extra services at rush hours; invariably clean; and prices are fair, with weekend, regional and other discounts often helping to sweeten the deal.

      Kings of the rails are the flagship Intercity-Express (ICE) trains, which travel at speeds up to 300km/hr and offer the most comfort, including a bistro. When making a reservation, you can also request a seat in areas with boosted mobile-phone reception or none at all. Not as fast or flash are Intercity (IC) and international Eurocity (EC) trains, though these hurtle along at 200km/hr, and still have electricity terminals throughout and a buffet carriage. Local trains come as swift InterRegio-Express (IRE), the steady Regional-Express (RE) trains and the slowish local Regionalbahn (RB), which tend to stop at every station en route. In cities, Stadt-Express (SE) trains or the commuter S-Bahn trains also operate.

      transdev.de) brands, which are relatively small players.

      Standard and discounted tickets

      Standard tickets (Fahrkarten) – not restricted to any particular train and refundable for a small charge – are priced according to the distance travelled, so returns cost twice as much as singles. Reservations (€4.50 per journey) are worthwhile for peak long-distance trains, especially the popular Friday late-afternoon getaway.

      You can buy tickets over the counter at the Reisezentrum bahn.com or via the Deutsche Bahn Navigator smartphone app at no surcharge up to ten minutes before departure – if you don’t buy it within the app you’ll require a print-out of the ticket and your credit card as proof of purchase.

      Flexible standard tickets are reasonably priced (though the use of ICE trains can be expensive), but Sparangebote, or saver fares, can bring costs down further. For example, a second-class standard ticket for the five-hour Frankfurt–Berlin journey on an ICE costs €126, but, with a couple of weeks’ advance booking, can be as low as €60. These cheaper fares only allow travel on a specific train, but are refundable and changeable before departure for a fee; their prices rise as departure approaches before they disappear altogether a few days before departure, leaving only the standard fare.

      Bin there, done with that: recycling in Germany

      Travel anywhere in Germany by train and you’ll see an array of coloured bins on the platform, evidence that Germany takes recycling seriously. The recycling industry turns over around €50 million annually, and Germans, who have a long tradition of social consciousness, recycle more of their rubbish than most other Europeans. Using the Grüne Punkt (Green Dot) icon that indicates material can be recycled, they now recycle some 65 percent of waste. In Bavaria, only one percent of rubbish goes to landfill. Visitors are expected to do their bit – novices placing items in the wrong container may be quietly reprimanded.

      Bins – of which there are up to five – are colour-coded. One, usually green or blue, is for paper (Papier) and card, including waxed cartons; boxes should be flattened and emptied of any plastic wrappers. Plastic goes into the yellow bin, along with milk cartons, cans, polystyrene and aluminium (marked with the Green Dot icon of two interlocking arrows). Straightforward enough, so long as you don‘t stuff different materials inside each other; this stuff gets sorted by hand, so a plastic cup hidden inside a tin is strictly verboten. There’s no need to rinse items, but most Germans empty cans and plastics. Glass is sometimes taken to bottle banks, commonly in supermarket car parks, but most bottles – including many made out of plastic – usually have a deposit (Pfand) on them of around €0.30–0.50 per item to be cashed at specified re-collection centres, most conveniently supermarkets. Biodegradables – including coffee grounds and teabags – go in another bin, usually brown, after which there‘s hardly anything left over. What is goes in the one bin that takes genuine Müll (rubbish) – grey or black and usually empty.

      Unlimited travel tickets

      One of the best deals in Germany is the Länder-Ticket, which provides a single day’s (9am to 3am the following day) unlimited second-class travel on regional trains in a single region – covering RE, RB & S-Bahn, but not faster long-distance IRE, IC, EC or ICE trains. Exact prices vary between states, but are broadly similar: for example, a Bayern Ticket (Bavaria Ticket) costs €25 for one person, and another €6 for each additional person up to five.

      The national version of the Länder-Ticket, allowing travel all over Germany – is the Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket (Across the Country Ticket), which costs €44 for one person per day (€8 for each additional person) and also includes IRE trains, and its weekend version the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket (Nice Weekend Ticket), which is valid both Saturday and Sunday for €40 per person (€4 for each additional person).

      Things get messy for city transport, with some states happy to accept the tickets, others not. Check as you buy or consult the Deutsche Bahn website.

      Rail passes

      If you are staying in Germany for long it may be worth picking up an annual national rail pass, the BahnCard. The BahnCard 25 (€125 first class, €62 second class) provides a 25-percent discount on all tickets; the BahnCard 50 (€515/255) provides fifty percent off and comes at half-price to students under 27 and seniors over 60; or the BahnCard 100 (€6890/4090) provides free travel for a year. Promotional (Probe) three-month versions of these cards are also sometimes available for around a third of the price.

      Non-European residents qualify for a German Rail Pass.

      By bus

      fernbusse.de (both offer smartphone apps). Prices generally start from around €10 between most destinations – though you’ll need to book well in advance to get those rates. Note that though most services have free wi-fi on board, connection speeds are generally very poor. In cities bus services operate from a terminus, known in cities as a Busbahnhof or Zentral Omnibus Bahnhof (ZOB) and often located near the train station.

      Sometimes these also form the hub of a local bus system, which usually provides an important extension to the railway network, particularly in rural and hilly areas where the train network thins. Here regional companies operate local services that vary in frequency from every twenty minutes or so to daily or even fewer, with most routes scheduled to serve commuters from early morning to early evening; services can dry up entirely at weekends. Tickets are bought either from kiosks or from the driver. Note that virtually all bus services are included in the Deutsche Bahn travel planner.

      By car

      Holders of any home national – or international – driving licence are permitted to drive in Germany provided they have this to hand. If driving your own car you will also require vehicle registration documents and a valid third-party insurance certificate. If bringing your own car, be aware, too, that a growing number of cities – 55 as of 2017 – have implemented Low Emission Zones to reduce exhaust fumes. Vehicles in a central Green Zone must display an Emission Badge (Umwelt Plakette), which is bought for around €5–10 from repair centres, dealers and vehicle safety testing (TÜVtuev-sued.de (southern Germany) for an additional €15. In practice this means pre-’93 petrol models and pre-’97 diesels will not pass unless retro-fitted with a catalytic converter. Vehicles caught entering a Green Zone without a badge will be fined.

      Germany’s most celebrated principal roads are its Autobahnen (motorways), indicated with blue signs and an A prefix. These roads have two or three lanes in each direction and, famously, have no overall speed limit, although many portions do have speed limits imposed, while electronic signboards on many stretches mean that limits can quickly be imposed when weather or traffic conditions warrant it. A round white sign with three diagonal stripes indicates that you’re entering a section with no speed limit, though 130km/hr is the recommended maximum. But even here you can generally forget fantasies of barrelling along at 200km/hr in your BMW, since traffic can be heavy and east–west routes packed with pan-European truckers. Major roadworks and accidents also frequently cause problems, helping to explain the national obsession with traffic jams (Staus). Perhaps all this is just as well, since if you have an accident at what your insurer regards as an excessive speed they may not pay out; and the police will take speed into account when apportioning blame.

      Secondary B routes (Bundesstrassen) are often dual carriageway, with three lanes on heavy sections, and have a speed limit of 100km/hr. Speed limits in urban areas are 50km/hr. All routes are toll free.

      Speeding, exceeding the blood alcohol limit of 0.5mg/l, and using a mobile phone without a hands-free set are all forbidden and will likely result in heavy fines or worse. Fines are also meted out for those using abusive language and gestures or running out of fuel on an Autobahn.

      On Autobahnen, emergency telephones are located every 1.5km for breakdown services; ask for Strassenwachthilfeadac.de), affiliated to the British AA, American AAA and Canadian CA, though check the extent of cover with your own breakdown service.

      On the road

      Driving is on the right, overtaking on the left, and seatbelts compulsory for all, including taxi passengers. Carrying a reflective hazard-warning triangle is mandatory and should be set up 100m behind the vehicle on the hard shoulder if required. In southern Germany snow chains are a good idea if you intend to venture onto Alpine backroads in winter, but most routes are kept snow-free with grit, salt and snowploughs.

      For first-time foreign drivers, remember that anything approaching from the right has right of way, unless posted otherwise. This is generally only an issue in cities, where trams make things a little more difficult by having right of way regardless of their direction. Since many tram stops are in the middle of traffic lanes, overtaking stationary trams is forbidden. Pay special attention to pedestrians and cyclists in cities – you might receive a green light to pull away from a junction, but the road you turn into is often green for a cycle and pedestrian crossing. Treat every junction with caution and double-check before you turn. Signs for Stadtmitte (city centre) or Altstadt (old town) lead you to a town’s heart; orange signs announce an Umleitung (diversion), which can lead you a merry dance but will get you there in the end.

      Some cities have electronic parking-guidance systems directing you to the nearest car park (Parkplatz) or parking garage (Parkhaus) and indicating the number of available spaces. These car parks are generally on the edge of pedestrianized centres, and marked by a blue P. Street parking is either pay-and-display or free for a specified time beneath a blue P, in which case cardboard clocks (Parkscheibe) bought from petrol stations are left on the dashboard to indicate the time of arrival.

      Petrol – all Bleifrei (unleaded) and either Super Plus (98 octane) or Super (95 octane) – is available every 50km or so on Autobahnen, in service stations that are usually open 24 hours a day, serve fast food and often even have showers.

      Car rental

      Car rental (Autovermeitungnovacarhire.com.

      An alternative to the car-rental agencies are peer-to-peer networks drivy.de), which helps you find people wanting to rent out their own vehicles and walks you through all the steps and requirements online.

      car rental Agencies

      Alamo alamo.com.

      Apex apexrentals.co.nz.

      Auto Europe autoeurope.com.

      Avis avis.com.

      Budget budget.com.

      Dollar www.dollar.com.

      Enterprise enterprise.com.

      Europcar europcar.com.

      Europe by Car europebycar.com.

      Hertz hertz.com.

      Irish Car Rentals irishcarrentals.com.

      National nationalcar.com.

      Rental Car Group rentalcargroup.com.

      Rental Cars rentalcars.com.

      Skycars skycars.com.

      SIXT sixt.com.

      Thrifty thrifty.com.

      By taxi

      Taxis – nearly always cream-coloured – might just work out cheaper than public transport if you are in a group. Available cabs have rooftop lights lit, though it’s rare to hail one on the street. Most gather at city-centre ranks, at the edge of the pedestrian centres and at train stations. Fares vary by city but are always metered, priced per kilometre (€1–3), and by the minute (€0.10–0.50) too. They also commonly rise slightly between 11pm and 6am and on Sunday. Large items of luggage may attract a small extra charge.

      Note that private taxi services such as Uber are banned in Germany.

      Car-sharing and hitchhiking

      Eco-aware Germany has a long history of organized car-sharing, though most rides are now found online rather than through Mitfahrzentralen mitfahren.de – with this last offering an English-language interface. Prices vary according to passenger numbers, but you can expect

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